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NATO Member Türkiye to Send Troops to Kosovo amid Unrest in the North

A US member of the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) stands guard in an armored vehicle outside municipal offices in Leposavic, Kosovo, June 2, 2023. REUTERS/Ognen Teofilovski/File Photo
A US member of the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) stands guard in an armored vehicle outside municipal offices in Leposavic, Kosovo, June 2, 2023. REUTERS/Ognen Teofilovski/File Photo
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NATO Member Türkiye to Send Troops to Kosovo amid Unrest in the North

A US member of the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) stands guard in an armored vehicle outside municipal offices in Leposavic, Kosovo, June 2, 2023. REUTERS/Ognen Teofilovski/File Photo
A US member of the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) stands guard in an armored vehicle outside municipal offices in Leposavic, Kosovo, June 2, 2023. REUTERS/Ognen Teofilovski/File Photo

Türkiye plans to send commandos to Kosovo on Sunday and Monday in response to a NATO request to join the alliance's KFOR peacekeeping force following unrest in the north of the country, the Turkish defense ministry said.

In a statement on Saturday, the ministry called for restraint and constructive dialogue to resolve a crisis that it said could harm regional security and stability.

"Our assigned unit (a commando battalion) is planned to be deployed to ... Kosovo on June 4-5," the ministry said.

A political crisis that has spiraled into violence in Kosovo's north has intensified since ethnic Albanian mayors took office in the region's Serb-majority area, which led the US and its allies to rebuke Pristina. The majority Serb population had boycotted the April election, allowing ethnic Albanians to be elected.

In violence on Monday, 30 peacekeepers and 52 Serbs who protested against the installation of the mayors were injured. The violence prompted NATO to announce it would send additional troops on top of 700 already on their way to the Balkan country to boost its 4,000 strong mission.

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At Least 13 People Killed in Pakistani Strikes on Suspected Militant Hideouts in Afghanistan

In this file photo, taken on August 3, 2021, Pakistan Army troops patrol along the fence on the Pakistan Afghanistan border at Big Ben hilltop post in Khyber district. (AP/File)
In this file photo, taken on August 3, 2021, Pakistan Army troops patrol along the fence on the Pakistan Afghanistan border at Big Ben hilltop post in Khyber district. (AP/File)
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At Least 13 People Killed in Pakistani Strikes on Suspected Militant Hideouts in Afghanistan

In this file photo, taken on August 3, 2021, Pakistan Army troops patrol along the fence on the Pakistan Afghanistan border at Big Ben hilltop post in Khyber district. (AP/File)
In this file photo, taken on August 3, 2021, Pakistan Army troops patrol along the fence on the Pakistan Afghanistan border at Big Ben hilltop post in Khyber district. (AP/File)

Local Afghans and the Pakistani Taliban said Wednesday that civilians, including women and children, were killed after Pakistan launched rare airstrikes inside neighboring Afghanistan.
Pakistani security officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity in line with regulations, told The Associated Press that Tuesday's operation was to dismantle a training facility and kill insurgents in the province of Paktika, bordering Afghanistan.
Residents in the area told an AP reporter over the phone that at least 13 people were left dead, adding that the death toll could be higher. They also said the wounded were transported to a local hospital.
Meanwhile, in a statement, Mohammad Khurasani, the spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, claimed that 50 people, including 27 women and children, have died in the strikes.
Pakistan has not commented on the strikes. However, on Wednesday, the Pakistani military said security forces killed 13 insurgents in an overnight intelligence-based operation in South Waziristan, a district located along eastern Afghanistan's Paktika province.
The strikes are likely to further spike tensions between the two countries. Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban government denounced the attack, saying on Tuesday that most of the victims were refugees from the Waziristan region and promising retaliation.
The TTP is a separate group but also a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021.
In March, Pakistan said intelligence-based strikes took place in the border regions inside Afghanistan.
Pakistan has seen innumerable militant attacks in the past two decades but there has been an uptick in recent months. The latest was this weekend when at least 16 Pakistani soldiers were killed when TTP attacked a checkpoint in the country’s northwest.
Pakistani officials have accused the Taliban of not doing enough to combat militant activity across the shared border, a charge the Afghan Taliban government denies, saying it does not allow anyone to carry out attacks against any country.